Racing in 50 leaves marathoner in state of delight

RUNNING

Forgive veteran marathoner Milt Taylor if he gets a bit excited when he talks about his run in the Almost Heaven Marathon on Dec. 3 last year.

That's because, after his 3-hour, 54-minute finish in Charleston, W.Va., he had completed a marathon in every state.

"The first one I ran was in Fort Wayne, Ind., and then I thought maybe I'll try to run one in each state," said Taylor, 62.

"Some states I've been in twice. In fact, I've been to Alaska three times. I've been to Hawaii twice. I am with a group -- there are about 90 of us. Some of the members have actually done the 50 states twice."

Along the way, the resident of Odenton ran a marathon personal record of 2:45 in the Pacemakers Marathon on Oct. 16, 1982, and a slowest marathon of 4:40 in Crater Laker, Ore. His fastest finish in the now defunct Maryland Marathon was 3:00:32.

His runs have even taken on an international flair.

"I've run two Athens marathons -- Athens, Greece, on Nov. 5 last year, and Athens, Ohio, in April 1979," said Taylor, who is retired from the Maryland State Police and is a part-time District Court bailiff in Howard County.

Before he began his marathon pursuit in earnest, he ran a race in all 23 counties of Maryland.

"I didn't pick them in any specific order," said Taylor. "I started looking for races in outlying areas. The first ones that come to mind are Garrett County and Somerset County."

And as for the future?

"I was thinking about the Canadian provinces," said Taylor, who has completed 86 marathons. "I've already done Nova Scotia and Ontario. I don't want to set too lofty a goal at 62. I've already done seven states twice. I would like to complete 100 marathons."